Page 38 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“W hat do you mean, nothing ?” Lucy asked after the private jet had landed back in London, and she had scooped them up.

After they’d dropped Victor back at his flat, Pandora had filled Lucy in on everything that had transpired in the Blue City, while she sipped the blood her friend had procured.

“Nothing,” Pandora said, slamming her head back into the rest twice.

“But the book had to get spicy, right? Or was it closed door?”

“Oh, it got spicy all right,” Pandora said. “But Victor called it a night before we got to it.”

“How soon before you got to it?”

“I didn’t know at the time, but when I couldn’t sleep and looked at it, it was literally the next page.”

“So, chances were, he saw the spice and just called it quits so things weren’t awkward.”

Pandora grumbled.

“I still can’t believe there was only one bed,” Lucy said. “And then he slept on the couch.”

“I’m pretty sure we have all the proof we need that he genuinely isn’t into me in that way,” Pandora said, leaning down to dig in her bag to find some mouthwash.

It was then that she came across a small box she was sure she hadn’t packed.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know.” Pandora pulled the box out.

“Well … open it,” Lucy said, then yelled at someone who cut her off in traffic. “Use your indicators, for God’s sake. They’re not decorative!”

Pandora flipped the top off the box, finding a set of silver earrings with blue accents the same colour as the stairs they’d climbed several times a day while in Morocco.

On the lid of the jewelry box was a small handwritten note.

Something new and something blue.

“Oh, come now,” Lucy said. “That man is in love with you.”

“For someone who is in love with me, he certainly does everything in his power not to touch me.”

“Maybe you’re not giving out the right vibes,” Lucy said. “You – hey, it’s called driving, not bumper cars!” She slammed on the brakes. “You need to let him know how much you want him.”

“I eye-banged his mostly naked body for a solid minute.”

“That’s a good start. But you could have, you know, touched him. Wild idea, I know,” Lucy said teasingly.

“So,” Pandora said, looking for anything else to talk about. “How did things go with Elias?”

Lucy’s growl was a bit more lupine than usual, hinting at the upcoming full moon.

“That good, eh?” she asked, getting narrowed eyes from her friend.

“Let’s just say I’m excited for your wedding. If for no other reason than being able to have that man out of my life for good.”

“Were there issues with the family?” Pandora asked.

“Not really, no. I mean, we did have to do some sticking together to get things to shake out the way we needed them to.”

“I’m afraid to ask what that might mean.”

“Nothing to worry about. It actually worked out perfectly. Your hen party is going to be at Nocturnum,” Lucy said.

“Wait. What? Why?” Pandora asked, gaping at her friend, who kept her gaze forward, pointedly ignoring her outrage.

Nocturnum was one of the handful of underground vampire clubs in London. The kind of place Pandora purposely avoided. Where blood was on tap and human donors could be rented for a snack.

“Listen, you’re just gonna have to suck it up for the night. No pun intended,” Lucy said, smirking at Pandora.

“Why that club?”

“Because there happens to be a human bar right next door,” Lucy said. “Elias and I figured the best way to pull this off is if the parties take place right next to each other. This way, you can pop in and out of the hen party, and go check on the stag end of things.”

“That’s actually brilliant,” Pandora said.

Sure, she had to show her face occasionally so her aunts and cousins and everyone knew she was floating around, having a good time, doing the partying thing that all soon-to-be-married women would be doing.

But she would spend as much of her time as possible at the party next door, keeping an eye on Victor and her male family members.

“Well, I’m glad you think so. Because you have approxi-mately eight hours to get some rest, get dolled up, and get ready to party.”

“What? It’s tonight? We just got back in.”

“I know. The timing is awful. But it was the only time we could get Nocturnum to agree to such a large party. They’re booked solid for the next four months.

If we didn’t jump on this, we were going to have to think of a different plan.

Besides, you are probably flying off that blood after three days of starving. ”

Lucy wasn’t wrong about that. The exhaustion that had been pulling at her eyelids just half an hour before had disappeared after just a couple of sips.

“OK. You’re right. Better to get this over with. After this, things should calm down. At least when it comes to my family interacting with Victor.”

“That’s the spirit,” Lucy said, pulling up outside Pandora’s house.

The two of them climbed out, and Lucy paused to grab two garment bags out of the boot before following Pandora inside.

“Oh, there you are, my dear!” Ravenna said, rushing toward Pandora to wrap her up in a crushing hug. “So glad you got back in time for your party.”

“Me too.” Pandora gave her great-aunt a smile.

“How was Morocco?”

“Beautiful. We had a wonderful time.” Out of the corner of her eye, Pandora could see Ambrosia watching from the doorway of the dining room. “Victor bought me new-and-blue earrings for the wedding at a little shop there. It was just the stress relief we needed.”

Perhaps she would feel guilty about embellishing the truth if it weren’t for the fact that she knew her great-great-grandmother had sent them on the trip to attempt to break them up.

“Oh, that is so lovely,” Ravenna said. “That is a good man you have there. OK, go, go. Get ready for your party. I can’t wait to see this club.”

Was it weird to have family members who were hundreds or thousands of years old going to your hen party? Probably. But Pandora didn’t have a ton of friends, so she was glad to have family to celebrate her upcoming vows with.

Plus, they could all have a good time. Without, you know, feeding on anyone who wasn’t willing.

Pandora, Lucy, Kora, and Maribelle spent a few hours in Pandora’s room. Doing their make-up, getting dressed, chatting.

And then they were all piling into a limo as Dante, Elias, and the other cousins and uncles headed out to pick up Victor, who’d been a good sport about the sudden party, despite likely suffering some jet lag and wanting to just rest.

“Elias said they even managed to get in touch with Victor’s best mate,” Lucy told her as they drove toward the club.

“Sebastian.”

“Yeah. Figured it would be nice for him to have at least one person from his life there,” Lucy said.

“Here we are!” Ravenna cheered, clapping her hands as the limo pulled up to the curb.

The entrance to Nocturnum was hidden in plain sight, marked only by a worn brass plaque beside the door and a single red bulb casting the front of the seemingly abandoned building in an eerie light.

The group made their way inside and the city sounds – the distant rumble of cars, faint echoes of conversation, the occasional shriek of a siren – faded as Pandora made her way down the narrow spiral staircase.

Each step felt like a deliberate departure from the mortal world above. The very air felt thicker, an intoxicating scent of aged leather, sandalwood, and something darker, more metallic, that Pandora was trying hard not to think about.

At the base of the stairs stood a towering figure in an expensive suit, his handsome features obscured a bit by the club’s rouged lights.

The doorman’s gaze slid over the eclectic group. From the tight, short, low-cut dresses worn by Pandora, Lucy, Kora, Maribelle, and Bellatrix, to the long, ornate, heavy dresses and gowns worn by the older vampires.

He shook his head a bit at them, but reached to pull apart the thick velvet curtains.

The scene unfolded before Pandora’s eyes.

It was a sprawling, dimly lit lounge just about as far as the eye could see. Everything was in shades of crimson and black. Heavy chandeliers dripped from the ceiling, casting muted maroon over the club’s patrons, rendering their features otherworldly.

Shadows clung to the corners and Pandora couldn’t help but wonder – or fear – what might be happening just out of sight. Especially since, right there in the open on one of the many black leather couches, two female vampires had their fangs stuck into either side of the neck of a male human donor.

A deep, persistent bass reverberated through the floor, felt rather than heard, a rhythm eerily similar to a mortal heartbeat.

Pandora couldn’t help but feel drawn to it, this invitation that threatened to bypass her conscious thought, her very morals.

She turned, following the tug she felt inside her, finding the bar spread across one wall. Behind it, a male bartender was pouring the house specialty – a viscous, dark-crimson liquid – into two separate goblets for waiting patrons.

Half of her party broke off to head to the bar. Or, she shuddered to think, find human donors.

Pandora and Lucy pressed deeper into the room.

The atmosphere shifted as she watched the way the humans moved around, captivated and adoring, orbiting the vampires like moths to a flame.

She caught snippets of conversations, mentions of ancient clans, deals being brokered, thinly veiled threats to make good on old rivalries. All around, there were hints of danger wrapped in velvet voices.

Lucy led Pandora toward a raised private section with comfortable seating and tables.

“There’s a staircase directly back there,” Lucy told her, pointing toward a dark corner of the VIP section.

“Leads down toward a private feeding room. But beside that is a doorway into the alley that connects this club to the bar next door, so we can sneak in and out without anyone really noticing. Kind of glad how busy this place is tonight.”

“Is it a thing that people buy private feedings for others?”